Ledaig 2007 HoMc (House of McCallum)

Single malt Ledaig, drawn and bottled by House of McCallum, aged 15 year old from 2007, drawn from cask 700637 and bottled at 46.5%. The outturn was 415 bottles. Ledaig is the peated malt made at Tobermory on Mull, a distillery founded as Ledaig in 1798. Ledaig, the old name kept for the peated malt, means safe haven in Gaelic.

It was drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, from peated malt, for a heavily peated island spirit. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla under the maritime smoke. Mid age brings a deeper, sweeter smoke and a maritime lift. Long maturation turns fierce young smoke into a rounded, coastal peat. The stills carry boil bulbs and a kink in the lyne arms, which lifts the reflux. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name. A rare, more heavily peated make has appeared under the name Iona, after a neighbouring isle.

At an approachable 46.5% it is balanced. A sooty smoke with tar and brine, and the bourbon cask adds vanilla and a gentle honey. The texture is oily, the smoke threaded with sea salt. The finish is deep, tarry and sweet. This is Ledaig's smoky, maritime single malt.